1973 NBA Playoffs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1973 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1972-1973 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks defeating the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers, four games to one in the NBA Finals. The Knicks won their second (and as of 2008, most recent) NBA championship. New York's Willis Reed became the first player to win the NBA Finals MVP twice (on the other hand, the award had only existed since 1969).

The playoff format was modified. Only the divisional champions qualified automatically; two wild-cards were also added from each conference. Once qualification was determined, the four qualifiers were seeded 1-2-3-4 based entirely on record; divisional position no longer mattered. The #1 seed then played #4, and #2 played #3. Because of this new format, New York, the Atlantic Division runner-up, had the home-court advantage versus Baltimore, the Central Division champion, since the Knicks had the better regular-season record. The Bullets had had the home-court advantage in the 1972 playoffs versus the Knicks and in the 1971 playoffs versus Philadelphia, even though their record was worse than New York's and Philadelphia's were those seasons, because they had won their division while the '72 Knicks and '71 76ers were runners-up.

This was the second consecutive time (and third in the last four years) that the Lakers and Knicks met in the championship series, and the Lakers-Knicks rivalry ended with two championships won by the Knicks and one by the Lakers. Los Angeles would have to wait until 1980 to return to the finals but would ultimately become the Team of the '80s; New York would not be back in the championship round until 1994.


  Conference Semifinals Conference Finals NBA Finals
                           
  1  Milwaukee 2  
4  Golden State 4  
  4  Golden State 1  
Western Conference
    2  L.A. Lakers 4  
3  Chicago 3
  2  L.A. Lakers 4  
    2  L.A. Lakers 1
  2  New York 4
  1  Boston 4  
4  Atlanta 2  
1  Boston 3
Eastern Conference
    2  New York 4  
3  Baltimore 1
  2  New York 4  

[edit] External links

v • d • e
NBA Playoffs
Conference Finals • Game 7 • Memorial Day Miracle • The Shot
1940s 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Languages